Ilford HP5+ at ISO 3200

[Valerio Trigari]

Hello all,

last weekend I had a bit of fun testing Ilford HP5+ at ISO 3200. I developed the sheets in Kodak HC-100 dilution A for 9.5 minutes and 20 C, as per technical sheet recommendation. I have to say I'm very impressed with the results and was expecting to obtain very grainy negatives. There's nothing wrong with that, because I do like the look of grain on certain type of shots. However, even pushing the process that far, the graininess was very low, almost not noticeable unless I was looking at the scan at high magnification.

Did anyone else every tried to push HP5+ to that ISO value, or possibly even higher? What do you think of it?

Cheers,

Valerio

[Neil Barnes]

You take me back to the days of my youth... I recall shooting a friend's rock band live in the early eighties, on HP5 pushed to about 1600 on 35mm, available light only in a smoky pub gig. We then blew the images up to six feet by four and a half - grain like golf balls but stunning images nonetheless.

I wish I could put my hands on them now...

Neil

[Valerio Trigari]

This is actually the first time I ever pushed any film, beyond what its stated ISO speed. Back in my early years of film photography, using a medium format camera, I was obsessed with absolute sharpness and minimum grain. I still love that now, but I also recognise the artistic effect of the grain itself.

I wonder if there's a developer that actually emphasises grain... I'm pretty sure I've read something along the lines on the Ilford website.

Val